国内英语新闻:Future cities painted green at Shanghai Expo

Designed by Carmen Bueno, of Spanish exhibition design firm INGENIAqed, the Pavilion of Future is designed to show how dreams build the future.

Bueno believes the "dream" drives ideologists, technicians and scientists forward to the future, or, as one of the slogans on the pavilion's walls says, "In yesterday's Utopia was born today".

The ZED Pavilion in the Urban Best Practices Area, near the Pavilion of Future, has a more specific dream.

"Our dream is that all the future houses are 'zero carbon' houses, in which people can live in a harmonious way with nature," says Xu Song, media director of the ZED Pavilion.

The pavilion is two connected buildings with zero carbon emissions.

The pavilion makes full use of solar, wind and bio-energy and ground heat, says Chen Shuo, ZED Pavilion project director.

The Shanghai Eco-home, also in the Urban Best Practices Area, is based on a renewable energy house in Minhang District, southwestern Shanghai, which has a solar energy system on the roof to supply all its energy needs.

Some pavilions promote sustainable lifestyles, such as the white loop-shaped Demark Pavilion, which promotes cycling in the country once known as the "kingdom of bicycles."

"When I was a little child, I saw pictures of China. There were always streets full of bicycles and almost no cars. Now the streets are full of traffic jams and almost no bicycles. In Denmark, it's just the reverse," says pavilion designer Bjarke Ingels.

The pavilion is shaped like a double spiral and visitors can walk or ride a bicycle up the spiral paths and down again, Ingels says.